Managing risk and tax on retirement

The annual SARS statistics report is a fascinating document. If you are a tax nerd, that is. Unfortunately not many appreciate the valuable data and trends contained therein. So the document is seldom studied in any detail.

Matthew Lester: Lifelong learning – part-time MBA with tax benefits

By Matthew Lester It is now five years since the depths of the global credit crunch. The rot may have been checked but world prosperity seems to still be a long way off. In the aftermath of the global credit crunch the business environment has been subject to substantial reform across a very broad spectrum. … Read more

Matthew Lester: Agric land switched to game farming coming back to bite SA

By Matthew Lester There is not much fun to be had when attending farmers’ days anymore. For years these functions used to be all about the droughts, floods or pests, lousy market prices and increasing fuel prices. We could generally drink out a solution. But now the land claims have opened up again and there … Read more

Prof Matthew Lester expands on new Davis Tax Committee report focusing on SME’s

A very large portion of the South African economic sector is informal, if small businesses don’t fall into the ‘informal’ category then it is likely that they will fit into the category of small to medium sized enterprises (SME). From a current economic standpoint, the country desperately needs SME’s to spring up in true entrepreneurial … Read more

Davis Tax Committee releases Small Business Sector report

By Matthew Lester The Davis Tax Committee has released an interim report addressing the taxation of the small business sector. The report is available on www.treasury.gov.za The committee was established by the previous minister of finance, Pravin Gordhan,  in July 2013 under chairman judge Dennis Davis. The brief of the DTC is to enquire and make … Read more